


Nice Day For A

by UnderTheFridge



Category: Aliens (1986)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, I just want a happy ending for them, Weddings, Why Did I Write This?, and the image of Vasquez in a tiara, because they all survive dammit, the gang's all here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 20:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8462635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderTheFridge/pseuds/UnderTheFridge
Summary: “If we get out of this alive,” Drake says, “we’ll get married. I promise.”





	

“If we get out of this alive,” Drake says, “we’ll get married. I promise.”

“What?” Hudson looks up at him, and he earnestly places a hand on his comrade’s shoulder and gazes deep into his eyes.

“I wasn’t talkin’ to you,  _ fucknut _ .”

Hudson gawps for a moment before “Aw, you had me hopeful, man….”

“What, he’d sweep you off your feet?” Dietrich calls over her shoulder. “Haven’t you had enough of guys carrying you around already?”

“Hey, I was  _ incapacitated _ . Bishop, tell them I was incapacitated that time!”

“Private Hudson suffered injuries in the field,” the synthetic responds, without turning from his task.

“See I told you, man!”

“Not debilitating by any means, but enough to convince him that he couldn’t walk the mile and a half back to the RV point.”

“I swear if we survive this, I will  _ choke  _ you!”

“You’re welcome to try, Private.”

“Hey Mark,” Vasquez says, from somewhere around Drake’s elbow. “Do you really mean that?”

“I do.”

 

\--

 

Lieutenant Gorman pretends to be surprised at being invited, as if he hadn’t heard the furious row yesterday about his attendance. The base is small, and they are both loud.

“It’d be an honour,” he says, and fingers the scalloped edge of the card. “Is this… dress uniform, or…?”

“Combat gear,” Vasquez says, and stares him down, shifting her gum to the other cheek. “No weapons, but, y’know.... All that shit.”

“And you’ll be in your…” he gestures, though he doesn’t really know what he’s pointing at.

“No.” Her hand plucks idly at her tank top. “I’ll have a dress, a big white one. With diamonds and pearls and a train going all the way down the church.” She takes a sidling step forward, as if about to challenge him to a duel. 

“I’m gonna be a fuckin’  _ princess _ .”

 

\--

 

“What am I doing, man?!” Drake looks more scared than he’s ever been (even facing a corridor of slithering monstrosities from an alien world, or running for his life as gases vent and a station rips itself apart around him) and his hands clutch on the other’s fatigues with enough force to bump him back against the wall. “What am I  _ doing _ ?”

“You’re getting married,” Bishop says.

“Well -” that throws him off his stride, “I know  _ that _ . But  _ why _ ?”

“Because you love her?”

“I do, but I can’t go out there in front of all those…. What about tomorrow, when I…?”

“She’ll still be there tomorrow. And the day after that.”

“Yeah, I… yeah. That’s right.” Drake lets go of him and does a little jig on the spot, getting rid of tension.

“All you have to do is go through a ceremony today, and you’ll be the same as ever. Only you’ll be married.”

“Right, yeah.”

“I’m probably not the best person for relationship advice.”

“No, you’re not.”

 

\--

 

“This fucking thing!”

“Shut up,” Hicks says, “the Sergeant managed it and he’s got fingers like hot dogs; no offence sir.”

“None taken,” Apone replies, fixing his cap.

“But how the fuck am I supposed to do this?”

“Come here,” Gorman says. Hudson eyes him suspiciously. “Look, do you want help or not, Private?”

Hudson swallows his pride and goes to stand in front of him. Stone-faced, the Lieutenant arranges the bow tie in a matter of seconds.

“There you go. It’s not that hard.”

“Where’d you learn that, officer school?”

Gorman straightens his back. “It was part of my education, yes.”

Hudson mutters something that might be interpreted as thanks, and goes to attempt the Herculean labour of the flower in the buttonhole.

“We don’t look too much like strippers, do we?” Ferro says idly, flicking eyeliner with the same precision that allows her to land a shuttle on a dime. “I mean, the bowtie and camo thing.”

“I think we look classy as fuck,” Hudson remarks.

“You wouldn’t know classy if it rubbed its balls on your face,” Gorman retorts, and instead of the shocked silence that he’d been expecting as soon as the ill-advised sentence left his mouth, there’s a roar of laughter and someone claps him on the back. It’s a pleasant surprise.

“Lieutenant’s right, Private,” Hicks says with a smirk. “But I think we look ok. Even if we’re not covered in bug brains.”

“T minus five minutes, people!” Apone yells from the doorway, “Look sharp!” 

Ferro brings her bouquet to port arms and snaps a salute.

“You sure you don’t need someone to carry you down the aisle, Hudson?”

“Fuck you man, that was  _ one time _ !”

 

\--

 

“Is that her  _ mother _ ?” Frost whispers to Hicks as they stand at attention beside the altar. The tiny white-walled chapel is packed and it’s getting hotter by the minute; the breeze from a fan that Dietrich pulled out of her kit belt is greatly welcome.

Hicks leans forward a fraction to see an elderly woman in an enormous hat, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief though the ceremony hasn’t yet started. It’s like looking into the future.

“Yeah, that’s her.”

“That’s where she gets it from, then.”

It takes the bare minimum of imagination to see Vasquez’s mother atop a mound of bug limbs, heavy weapon blazing, yelling curses at all and sundry.

“Is her father here?”

“No, he was… he’s gone, I think. Long time ago. The Sergeant’s giving her away.”

“Husband-to-be looks like he’s about to pass out.”

Hicks gives Drake a prod in the back, and the groom reluctantly starts back to full consciousness, just as his blushing bride kicks open the door.

 

\--

 

_ Things that happen during the wedding: _

All of her side of the family start to cry.

Hudson starts to cry, then vehemently denies it.

Vasquez does indeed appear as a fucking princess, with a dress that fills the aisle inside and blinds everyone when they get outside.

(She’s wearing combat boots underneath.)

Bishop revises his First Law to tread on Drake’s shoelace and prevent him making a run for it, because that will surely reduce harm in the long run.

The priest almost forgets to ask ‘Do you take this man…?’ when he looks at Vasquez’s face and it’s pretty clear she fucking well  _ does _ .

Gorman enters into an ill-advised drinking contest with Drake’s father and two of his brothers, and wins, much to his surprise (when he’s informed of this after he regains consciousness with a pair of synthetics poking his face).

A service pistol is discharged - thankfully firing blanks, although most of the guests are already in cover and the bride is shouting GET DOWN MOTHERFUCKERS by the time they realise.

The mothers bond over a shared disapproval of what all the other guests are doing.

The bouquet is tossed, and EVERYONE goes for it. As it’s about to land in Lt. Gorman’s hands, Ripley smacks him to the ground so that Newt catches it.

Newt stands on Gorman’s prone body, waves the flowers and squeals delightedly.


End file.
